MCLE LEGAL WRITING

MAY 2003

HOW A LIBRARY CAN HELP YOU

LIBRARY REFERENCE HELP

       DEVELOPING A RESEARCH STRATEGY

        LOCATING MOST APPROPRIATE SOURCE

AFTER HOURS ACCESS (NEED BAR CARD AND ID)

INTERLIBRARY LOANS

        OBTAINING RESOURCES NOT AVAILABLE LOCALLY

PUBLIC COMPUTER ACCESS

    INTERNET

    CDROMS ON HARD DRIVE

    WORD PROCESSING

EMAIL ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS TO SELF

TEACHING

    BASIC RESEARCH SKILLS   

    SHEPARDIZING

    COMPUTERS & ONLINE SEARCH SKILLS

OTHER LOCAL LIBRARY RESOURCES:

    HUMPHREYS

    PUBLIC LIBRARY (CESAR CHAVEZ, TRACY, & LODI)


WHAT IS AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC COMPUTERS

       ASPEN/LOISLAW

              FAMILY LAW

    EVIDENCE LIBRARY

MATTHEW BENDER

    PLEADING & PRACTICE

    LEGAL FORMS TRANSACTION GUIDE

    CRIMINAL DEFENSE

WEST

    MILLER & STARR REAL PROPERTY

    ALL RUTTER GROUP PRACTICE GUIDES

    ALL WITKEN


LEGAL RESOURCES AVAILABLE ONLINE

    ORAL ARGUMENTS

    STATE AND FEDERAL CODES, RULES, FORMS, ETC.

    CITY & COUNTY ORDINANCES


LEGAL RESEARCH GUIDE (LOCATING THE LAW)     http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/   


MISCELLANEOUS INTERNET RESOURCES

LEGAL CITATIONS

    TO ORDER

        THE BLUEBOOK: A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION

                    http://www.legalbluebook.com/

    ONLINE GUIDE ON HOW TO CITE

http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/

JUDICIAL COUNCIL FORMS (Interactive online)

        ACCESSLAW            http://www.accesslaw.com

PLEADING PAPER            http://uslegalforms.com/paper/capleading.doc        

Definitions/legal dictionary

                 http://www.lectlaw.com/def.htm

     http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/dictionary/wordindex.cfm

 SEARCH ENGINES

    GENERAL

        GOOGLE                    http://www.google.com

        ALLTHEWEB            http://www.alltheweb.com

    LEGAL

        FINDLAW                http://www.findlaw.com


SUGGESTIONS

ORGANIZE YOUR WRITING INTO LOGICAL, RELATED SEGMENTS.

READ THE CASES THAT YOU CITE.  DO NOT RELY ON POINTS & AUTHORITIES.

SHEPARDIZE EVERY CASE THAT YOU CITE.

PROOFREAD.


CLASSES ON LEGAL WRITING

    WEST    MCLE CLASS ONLINE

    LawProse, Inc.    (Bryan A. Garner)        http://www.lawprose.org


BOOKS ON LEGAL WRITING

     Book recommendations                  http://schiess.freeservers.com/books.html